“Da wants you to listen to them and report anything that may tell us their plans. The word is that with the fall of Dunstaffnage, the Bruce moves north from here, but we must know before launching our attack.”
“But I am isolated, Eachann. No one speaks to me, not evenhim.” Lara sat back on her heels and thought of how to accomplish this task. If she could give them some knowledge of the Bruce’s plans, it could gain her forgiveness in her clan’s eyes.
“The servants hear everything. Let them gather what they can, and you bring it to me. Let Da decide if ’tis important or no’.”
Before she could respond, Eachann held up his hand and stepped back into the shadows. Still on her knees, she straightened up and bowed her head, waiting for his word.
“Go say a prayer for your mother’s soul,” he ordered in a low voice.
“I did that, Eachann.”
He shook a fisted hand at her. “Lara, do what I tell ye. Go say a prayer for your ma…and listen well while you pray.”
Shrugging, Lara stood and walked back to the stone that lay over her mother’s grave. In the quiet of the chapel, she could hear voices outside the window. She glanced back at Eachann in the darkness near the altar. How had he known? Now, standing as silently as she could, she listened.
“When do you leave, then?” Hugh asked.
“In three days. I go and Robert will meet all of us in Kilcrenan.” It was Sebastien’s voice. “’Twill be just over a week before I return.”
He was leaving?
“How many go with you? Or should I say, how many do you leave with me?” Hugh laughed lightly.
“I take three score of Robert’s men with me,” Sebastien answered. “My men remain with you for the safety of all we’ve gained.”
Something moved in the woods next to the church, and the men stopped talking abruptly. Lara saw her cousin motioning to her, and she crept back to the altar.
“What did they say?”
“The Bruce goes to Kilcrenan. Sebastien leaves in three days.”
“Good, Lara. We might make a good spy out of you yet,” he whispered.
“Spy?” she asked. The dishonor of it struck her sharply. “I am no spy.”
“Ye have turned whore, why not spy as well?” Eachann laughed bitterly. “Men spill secrets in the heat of passion, and if ye spy as well as we’ve heard ye whore for the Bruce’s man, ye might earn your way back into the clan.”
Lara reeled back at the horrible accusation, but Eachann grabbed her arm and drew her so close that his rancid breath burned her cheek. “I will be visiting this place every five days to meet with ye. If I canna’, I will have someone come in my stead. Be here.”
Then, before she could argue, her cousin released her and stepped back into the shadows with a harsh, whispered curse. Falling to her knees once more, she heard the door pulled open and approaching steps behind her on the stone floor.
She tried to catch her breath, but the dread and the shame of her cousin’s accusations made it difficult. What kind of rumors had gotten back to her uncle?Whore?She had been forced on threat of death to marry the man, and had been taken. And yet they believed the worst.
Lara knew Sebastien stood behind her now, but she did not dare face him. Would the guilt show on her face? Would he know what she’d just done?
“Lady?” he said. “Are you ready to return?”
He leaned over and held his hand out to her, to help her stand. She did not take it, but rose on her own and then, with a deep breath forced in and out, turned to him.
“I know about what happened in the yard, Lara.” His voice, softer now and filled with concern, poured over her. “As I told you before, they are not my men.”
She sensed that this was as much of an apology as she would receive, and more would make her uncomfortable. She did not know if her cousin stood watching or not; however, she did not want to stay here now.
“I am ready to go back.”
He held out his arm and waited. Finally, she placed her hand on his and walked down the center of the chapel. Just as she reached the door, a wind blew into the church and the candles and torch went out. Sebastien stepped out first and, as Lara followed, a single whispered word echoed through the stone building.
Whore.
